It's not all sunglasses and autographs....and paparazzis.....

By Noorsila Abd Majid

A whole new underworld is constructed for the third season of Ghost Whisperer, making the supernatural thriller more haunting than ever.  THINGS are not only getting a lot darker on Ghost Whisperer, they are truly going bump in the night too.

The TV series’ continuing success after two seasons (it made its debut in 2005) has ensured a bigger budget and better creative input for the third season.“There are more special effects,” says Ian Sander, one of the executive producers. “I would say it’s four times what they were in seasons one and two.”

A case in point: an “underworld” has been built in the studio for Jennifer Love Hewitt, the star behind the title character named Melinda Gordon, an antique store proprietress gifted with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts.

“We have a new production designer, Mayling Cheng, this year, she just designed it,” beams Sander as he addresses journalists visiting the set of the hit thriller in NBC Universal Studios in Los Angeles recently. The trip for the Malaysian press is organized by 8TV.

“As you go into this town, there are tree roots that are clearly coming down from the surface. With visual tricks, we are able to go all the way up and be in the town square above.

“We have also built a basement to Melinda’s antique store, which is another side of the tunnel that she’s able to access. People who try to get to her are able to reach the tunnel too. She’s in danger when she goes in there.”

Essentially, humans and “other beings” in the show are able to shuttle between the real world and the underworld seamlessly, by virtue of an improved technology.

So eerie is the tunnel that Hewitt’s co-star, Camryn Manheim, gets goosebumps just by walking through it. “The new season is too scary for me to watch,” admits Manheim, who plays Delia Banks, Melinda’s close friend and assistant at her store. “It’s literally with Bloody Mary and the whole thing. It’s just getting to be like the movies I can’t see. It’s spooky.” (The “Bloody Mary” in question is an urban legend; in one episode, the urban legend becomes a reality after Melinda discovers a college student who has mysteriously slipped into a fright-induced coma.)

Another co-star, Jay Mohr (Professor Rick Payne), chips in: “The underworld is going to be a ghost mafia. And my character is getting more involved in Melinda’s life. She’s counting on him for a lot of help. He knows her secret. He’s gone from a complete cynic to suddenly seeing more and more ghosts!”

In season three, Melinda, the medium who helps earthbound spirits find emotional closure, plunges deeper into the mythology of ghost whisperers as a breed. She will tell you the history of people who can do what she does and how they are related to her hometown of Grandview.

“Melinda starts taking the journey to the dark side. She’s going to discover in this season that Grandview is a portal to the spirit world,” Kim Moses, also an executive producer, reveals of the latest season. “At the same time, she starts uncovering secrets about her own past, about her ancestry. You’ll find out that she has a brother, whom we kind of hinted at by the end of last season.”

Sander adds that Melinda’s trip to the underworld is inspired by the various underground cities around the globe that the team has researched on. “Edinburgh, for example, is built on underground streets. So are Paris and London.”

Amid the thicker gothic mysteries, Melinda’s parents, Beth and Tom Gordon (Anne Archer and Martin Donovan), return. Also, there is a new interesting character, Justin Yates (Omid Abtahi), who runs a blog called And Shame the Devil. The university student will eventually come into conflict with Melinda as he works to expose her and the ghostly goings-on in Grandview.

“We don’t want to disappoint those who really have come to love the show and are devoted to it because they want that emotional kick,” reasons Sander. “But as we’ve gotten more and more younger viewers – our male demographic, ages 18-34, has gone up 100% – the show has gotten younger. So we’ve moved into those areas (blogs and more expensive special effects) in order to relate to the younger viewers.”

Along with the underage audience comes Hewitt’s concern about her, ahem, gravity-defying “cleavage mystery”. (Believe what you’ve read in the papers, her boobs have had a starring role for the past two seasons.)

“Definitely, we’ve all sat down and made a conscious effort that this season is not going to be so much about my cleavage. I’m fine with it,” laughs the star who last December gallantly hit back when less-than-flattering photos of her in a bikini were mocked by bloggers, saying: “To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini – put it on and stay strong.”

At 29, the actress boasts a rather impressive oeuvre that includes I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the TV series Party of Five (1995-99), The Tuxedo opposite Jackie Chan in 2002, and the two Garfield movies in 2004 and 2006. Right now, what the leading lady loves is to have more attention on her acting.

“I’ve been working really hard in trying to be a good actress on the show. But you’ve never heard about anything else but my boobs. You know what, I would rather take some of that stuff away and see if I can still entertain people as much without it being about boobs, and give that a try for a while. That might be good for my confidence.”

Seriously, no revealing outfits for the sexpot, you ask? “Well, it’s still on the show, but during more appropriate times,” she coos. “Like when Melinda is at home with her husband Jim, or they are both going to bed.” Hmm. “But I don’t want to talk to children with my boobs up to here, which is inappropriate. So we’ve calmed it down a bit.” Oh, right.

But fret not, the lovey-dovey couple will still heat things up with their passionate romance. “Jim Clancy is happy being Mr Melinda Gordon,” assures David Conrad, who plays the hubby. “You’ve got to remember that only he and a few people know what she can do. He’s so married to her. He thinks it’s a miracle that she could do this thing.”

In the new season, Jim will have more character development, which sees him pursuing his own dream at last. But Conrad insists that his alter ego is not at all ambitious. “He wants a nice house, someone he loves and maybe kids someday, and he likes doing a job where he feels like he has helped people. He thinks if he can help keep that fire going so that Melinda can take care of these people (or spirits), so be it.”

Oh, come on, not even a bit of domestic squabble for the twosome? How boring. “There’s so much of that in life, anyway,” reasons Hewitt. “We’re trying to show a marriage that doesn’t necessarily have to have all that stuff. Sometimes David and I do talk about it. We would say, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if Melinda and Jim could get in a big knockdown, drag-out fight and see where they go from here?’ Because we’ve never had the opportunity to really play them that way.”

Nevertheless, adds Conrad: “This show is driven by often very angry, combative people (and spirits). So you’ve got this kind of combative drama going on for two-thirds of the show. To counterbalance, you need a couple like Melinda and Jim that are nice, funny and kind.”

Well, never say never. In TV land, a lovers’ spat is lovable. Watch.

Season three of ‘Ghost Whisperer’ premiered on 8TV last Tuesday. It continues on the channel every Tuesday at 10.30pm. Over on Star World (Astro Channel 711), season two runs every Tuesday at 11pm.